The 2023 presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore and other activists have vowed to stage a protest in Abuja on Monday, today, in demand of improved welfare for personnel of the Nigeria Police Force.
Members of the Nigerian Union of Retired Police Officers will be gathering outside the National Assembly complex and the Force Headquarters to demand their removal from the contributory pension scheme, which they described as a “discriminatory pension scheme.”
The retired officers said the government’s unresponsive attitude to their yearnings about what they called “discriminatory pension scheme,” has been pushed to the wall.
The Chairman of the union, Mannir M. Lawal, said on Sunday, in a interview, that members from across the 36 states are presently in Abuja for the “mother of all peaceful protests.”
“Nothing is going to stop the protest. We have just met with the FCT Commissioner of Police. We have informed him of our intention.
“We just want to be removed from the Contributory Pension Scheme. We want all our savings to be refunded to us with immediate effect,” he said.
Lawal dismissed reports that Sowore and other activists orchestrated the protest to tarnish the image of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, saying the union solely planned the exercise.
“We only saw Sowore’s own on social media. We are not aware of his planned protest before today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force, on Sunday, lamented that certain actors in the country have decided to politicise a sensitive welfare issue of the personnel and retired police officers, alleging that they are “weaponising the legitimate grievances of our retired colleagues for ulterior motives.”
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, obviously referring to moves by Sowore and other activists, claimed in a statement that “their intent is not reform, but disruption.”
He accused the suspected actors of “twisting facts, inflaming sentiments, and sowing distrust in the public space,” stressing that their actions do a disservice not only to the force, “but to the integrity of public discourse in our country.”
“We, however, remain focused on the real issue, which is the welfare of those who once bore the burden of national security with courage and honour.”
A leaked memo sighted by reporters on Sunday night directed some police officers, particularly those in the FCT, to remain in the barracks until further notice.
“All officers and men serving in the command be confined to the barracks with immediate effect until further notice.
“All to acknowledge receipt for strict compliance please,” part of the memo from Supol Asokoro and dated July 20, 2025, stated.
Sowore, posted on his social media handles, that the Nigeria Police Force and the present administration led by Bola Tinubu “refused to pay the police decent salaries,” saying it is a “lack of respect for you to deny them pensions.”
Sowore told reporters that irrespective of the oppositions from the Force and the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), “there is no going back on the protest.”
“You humiliated them in service and in retirement. Now you’re scrambling, issuing statements, summoning spin doctors, locking officers in barracks, trying to explain away decades of injustice,” he wrote on Facebook.
The PCRC, on Sunday urged the aggrieved retirees to return to the table for negotiations, stressing that the planned nationwide protest is an attempt to discredit and embarrass the IGP.
